


Because You're On The Border

by gooberzayn



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 21:33:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/931320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gooberzayn/pseuds/gooberzayn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High School AU in which Louis Tomlinson has a crush on a boy, but he's not supposed to so Satan!Styles comes to influence him to do such things anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Because You're On The Border

**Author's Note:**

> Blame this one on Coco and also Ryan Murphy and also on the person who designed the UAN concert set and made it look like there were flames behind Harry. Mostly the last one, because that's how all of this started

Louis eyed the boy from a distance as he took long puffs from his cigarette He didn’t want him to notice that he was watching.

 _Get over it, Tomlinson, we haven’t got time for this,_ he said to himself, _you’re not supposed to like boys._

“Well, why not?” rang a deep, sly voice. He turned around, startled by the unfamiliarity, and the fact that he hadn’t been talking out loud.  
“Who’re you?”  
“Oh, you know… Some call me Satan, some call me Lucifer, my friends call me Harry.” the boy in front of him smiles, and his cheeks dimple. “Most mortals just make up their own names, I suppose.” The boy's hair is curly, but held under a beanie, and he has rather noticeably green eyes. He's a little taller than Louis, and he has an air about him that screams _I'm a sarcastic bastard._

“I don’t recall wanting to sell my soul for anything.” Louis responds, in disbelief.  
“Hey, hey, hey, I know you don’t believe me, but that’s no reason for insults.”  
“Yes, because I’m just supposed to believe someone when they tell me they’re Satan.”  
“This why I just told Eve to eat the apple instead of telling her who I was first…”  
“Sure, bud.” Louis begins to walk away, but the other boy quickly catches up to him.  
“But that’s beside the point. Why aren’t you supposed to like boys?”

Louis’d forgotten about that bit. He was sure he hadn’t been speaking aloud.

“No, you weren’t speaking aloud. I read your mind, evil powers and all that lot you know.”  
“Well, what was I thinking before that, Harry?”  
“Yep, yep Mortals always choose Harry. Somehow it keeps them a bit less terrified of me.” he winks “That boy over there, Zayn. You like him, only you don’t want to like him, because I guess it’s a sin or whatever… I was never really good at those, and you at least want to talk to him about liking boys, because you haven’t figured yourself out yet, but if you do talk to him, everyone will think you like boys, because everyone knows Zayn is gay. Is that enough information for you or would you also like me to recite every time you’ve stolen something from your local Tesco?”

Louis’ eyes widened, he began to shout but there was no sound coming out of his mouth.  
“You can’t just go yelling about Satan. You’ll looking crazy and I’ll just render myself invisible and turn your entire class against you.”

Louis closed his mouth.

“Better... I probably wouldn’t have turned anyone against you, though. Humans have a tendency of doing those things on their own.”  
He looks at Louis for a moment, a small tear rolled down his face. “You don’t have to be so terrified. I’m here to help you. Calm down.”

He stares at him for another moment. “Oh, for the love of.” he flicks his hand at Louis, who immediately feels a surge of calm overwhelm him.  
“Better?”

Louis’ face becomes serene and his muscles relax a bit “Yea. Much better. What is this stuff, anyway? Did you drug me?”

“No. It’s pure, unfiltered calm.”  
“It’s good. I’m gonna need some of this, Harry.”

He rolls his eyes in reply. “Yes, I’ll get right on that; piss off God even more about me giving things to mortals that they shouldn’t have.”

“Like what?”  
“Anything that alters you guys’ mood is bad apparently. God says it’s because you guys have to learn to ‘suffer through your state’ or some crap like that I don’t know. Apparently makes you better people... I don’t care.”  
“You don’t care?”  
“No.”  
“But it’s... God.”  
“Yea blah blah blah. Look, God’s great alright I guess. I’m the rebellious child and all you guys are my younger siblings. I’ve got to get you into all of the cool stuff no matter how much mum dislikes it.”  
“God is a mum?”  
“What else would God be?”  
“...I’m not too big on religion, but I believe the prayer goes ‘Our father who art in heaven.’”  
Harry let out a big chuckle “You humans and your patriarchy.”  
“I never thought-”  
“I know. You guys don’t do that often.. that’s what I’m here for.” He smiles.

“You’re here to help me think. Makes sense that Satan would be my guardian angel, I suppose.”  
“Hey, hey, hey I’m no one’s guardian angel. I’m the Prince of Darkness, alright. I’m evil, I’m vile, I’m the rebellious child.”  
“Aren’t you supposed to have like a trident and horns and sharp teeth and a tail...and be red?”  
“Actually my normal form is more like a featureless blob of red... or at least, that’s how I’d look to you. Right now I’m assuming the most lovable, unthreatening form for you specifically.”  
Louis looks him over for a moment. “... you _are_ really... nice looking...”  
“You can call me handsome if you want. You can even say I’m attractive.”

And Louis feels a twinge in his stomach, like he probably shouldn’t be here. _Obviously, I shouldn’t be,_ he thinks to himself, _he’s Satan._

“You can just call me Harry, thanks.”  
“Could you please stop reading my thoughts?”  
“Sorry. Force of habit. I’ll stop. I’ll focus on Zayn’s instead.”

Louis cocks a brow.

“...What is he thinking?”  
“Oh, you know. Cigs, and tests and dicks. Typical guy stuff. Wondering what party he’ll be going to this weekend, or if he should just throw one himself... he has a paper to write in English.”  
“Oh, nice...”  
“Minds are usually boring when the person isn’t worried about anything.”  
“I think that's a good thing...”  
“It is.”

Louis sighed. “I don’t even want to necessarily... I don’t know. I’d like to talk to him for a bit.”  
He begins walking toward his car.  
“Then why not just talk to him?”  
“Because I can’t. I can’t ask for his number, because everyone will think I’m gay. He doesn’t have mine... and if he does he hasn’t used it.”

Louis blinks, he literally blinks, he’s sure he only blinks, and he’s in his room, sitting on his bed, Harry sitting across from him at his desk, listening patiently.

“What the fuck?”  
“Oh, I... I crinkled. I kind of bent the time around us a bit so that we’d get here faster. I thought you’d want to talk some place that made you a bit more comfortable.”  
“You bent the time around us...”  
“Yes, it’s... it’s just a thing.”  
“Wait does that mean the future is basically like, set in stone or something?”  
“No. Well, time really only exists in this dimension, anyway, but basically it’s all based on decisions. You had already made the decision to go home and come to your room. I bent time forward to the end result of that decision.”  
“Oh...”

“We’re never going to get through this if you keep being distracted by every little thing that I do.”  
“Well sorry if supernatural powers distract me and are just an everyday thing to you.”  
“You should be, mortal.”  
“Is that supposed to be an insult?”  
“Yes.”  
Louis waits a bit, to see if Harry would laugh or smile, or tell him he was joking. He doesn’t. His face is still, and there’s not a hint of remorse on it.

“Why are you even here? Why me?”  
Harry stands up, and sighs.

“I think I just have a thing for _l’amore._ Cupid, Satan, same basic principle right? You’re sad in the beginning, and you’re sad at the end, but I helped you to gain an unparalleled amount of extremely selfish happiness in the middle. That’s what I’m all about. That’s why I keep influencing people to bring babies into the world.”  
“You’re horrible.”  
“I am The Devil. Make no mistake about that.”  
“Then why should I even be listening to you? You influence people to do bad things.”  
“I think you do a bit of the same thing, don’t you?”  
“I’m not evil, though.”  
“Evil is a... subjective word. Anyway. I’m here to help you out with Zayn.”  
“Zayn isn’t a thing.”  
“Before I crinkled you were all sappy about how all you wanted to do was talk to him.”  
“That’s not going to happen, anyway.”

Harry plops onto the floor, folding his legs, and propping his face up on his elbows.  
“Why?”  
“Because, I don’t like boys, and Zayn doesn’t like me, and it would ruin everything, and I don’t want to.”  
“Fine, fine. No more stuff about Zayn. I think I’ll stick around for a bit anyway.”  
Louis eyes him for a moment “Are there other bad things that I’m supposed to be doing?”  
Harry shrugs “None in particular that I can think of.”  
“Good, then I’m going to-” he blinks again, and he’s still in his bed, except now he’s in his pyjamas and he has a feeling to complete fullness in his belly. “Why do you keep doing that?”  
“Because linear time is boring. One day I’m gonna break a really big rule and teach scientists how to travel in time.”

Louis lays down, and wraps himself up under his blanket.  
“One day mum’s going to really punish you.”  
“I’ve already been kicked out. Not much more you can do after that.”  
Louis smiles, his eyes feeling heavy. “Get some sleep, human. I’ll be back tomorrow.” Louis nods and watches as the lights slowly dim around him, and Harry fades out of view.

The next day while Louis is sitting in the booth of his favorite little diner, Harry appears again.  
“Can you just pop up like that? Won’t people see you?”  
“No one can see me. Only you can.”  
“Oh, that’s comforting, now people will think I’m crazy.”  
“Not exactly. People looking at you don’t see you talking to me. It’s like a magical force field that makes you look normal.”  
“...This is ridiculous.”  
“For you, anyway, how’ve you been getting on without me?”  
“Same way I have for the last 17 years thanks.”  
“Oh, someone’s having a bad day.”  
“I’m not. I just haven’t had my--”  
“Here ya go” rings a loud, irish voice in his ears. "Coffee, two sugars, no cream.”  
“Thank Niall.”  
“Hello, Niall” Harry says, Louis giving him an incredulous look.  
“Hello, Satan.” Niall says rather nonchalantly and gives a tiny wave “Back to work I go. See ya, Lou.” and he retreats to back behind the counter.  
“I thought you said no one could see you.”  
“They can’t... and Niall isn’t anyone.”  
“He goes to my school!”  
“I’m aware.”  
“How is it that he can see you?”

Harry sighs  
“You see his girlfriend over there?”  
Harry gestures to a girl with brown skin and kinky-curly hair leaning over the counter laughing at something Niall had just said.  
“You mean Gia?”  
“Yes. Gia is an inbetween.”  
“A what?”  
“A magical creature, but not like me or mum. More like... just in between. Doesn’t do anything to bring peace in the world, doesn’t do anything evil. Not really human, not fully supernatural. More human in morals and goals, though I suppose. It’s like, human, but can see the worlds on both sides.”  
“What? Is she like an angel?”  
“No. Angels are like me.. I’m an angel, actually. She’s more like... a fairy, a pixie.”  
“So, she’s a pixie?”  
“No. Those are really really tiny and live in your pockets... She’s more like a nymph. Yes, she’s a nymph, let’s go with that.”  
“So, she’s magical?”  
“Yes, and since she’s not like me, Niall being exposed to her for so long has made it so that he can perceive both realms. That’s why he can see me.”  
“This is too weird. I’m talking to Satan and Gia is a nymph.”  
“That’s the spirit.”

Louis gives him a tired look, and takes a long sip from his mug. His phone buzzes, and he takes it out, noticing a wide grin spread across Harry’s lips.

“What the fuck did you do?”  
“Nothing...”  
He holds his phone close to Harry face “This is Zayn. Zayn is texting me. He didn’t have my number before today, we’d only said two words to each other our entire high school career before today and now he’s texting me.”  
“He could’ve asked around for your number.”  
“And just what would have prompted him to do that?”

Harry sits back and reads that text “To invite you to a party tonight, apparently.”  
“He has loads of parties. He never invites anyone people just show up.”  
“Well I guess he wants to make sure you’re coming.”  
“And why would he want to do that?”  
“I don’t know. Maybe he had some really nice dream about you and now he can’t stop thinking about you? I’m no expert on these things.” He smiles even harder.  
“You made him dream about me?”  
“I also gave him your number that was me, too.”  
“I told you. I’m done with the Zayn thing, okay?”  
“And why is that?”  
“Because, I don’t like boys.”  
“Well, when we first met you were saying you’re not supposed to like boys. That doesn’t mean that you don’t.”  
“Well, now I don’t. Is that clear to you?”  
“You do like boys, Louis.”  
“I don’t.”  
“So you like girls?”

Louis gives him an exasperated stare. “Listen, you’re the devil. Obviously if you’re here to influence me to do something, it’s wrong.”  
“Wrong is subjective.”  
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t like boys, and I can’t like boys?”  
“I don’t see why not.”  
“Because my life will go to shit. Everything will go to shit, and I’m not dealing with that. I’d rather face a lifetime of celibacy and pinning.”  
“That’s a lie.”  
“Is not.”

Harry stares at him for moment, then bends himself over the table so that his face is just barely not touching Louis’.

“I’m going to tell you a story about a little boy who had the choice of either sitting down and watching everyone continue with all the bullshit that was happening in order to keep the order or fixing a flawed plan. He chose to fix everything, and he was thrown out of his home, but you know what? He doesn’t regret a day of it, because trying to fix it is better than just letting the fucked up shit happen. That’s you. You can either sit here, and let your life be miserable, because you’re scared you’ll upset the social order so badly that an angry mob will come after you or you can do what makes you happy.”

He leans in further, and presses their lips together. It’s gentle, and slow, and Louis’ never kissed a guy before --if this counts-- and he finds himself pushing closer, and opening his mouth, and tangling his fingers in Harry’s hair. When Harry finally stops and pulls away his face is emotionless, and he’s waiting for a response from Louis.  
Louis, himself, is quiet, his eyebrows are scrunched together and his mouth is hanging open. He runs his hand through his hair and lets out a breath.

“Yea, I like boys.” is all he says.


	2. The Backlash of a Martyr

“You might want to text him back to let him know you’re coming.” Harry says as he slides back into his seat.  
“Yea, right. Do you think I should go?”  
“Well, I didn’t kiss you for nothing. Of course I think you should go.”  
“Okay, then-” he blinks again, and he’s in his bedroom. He’s starting to wonder if the crinkles make him blink or if Harry just waits for him to blink in order to crinkle.   
“Now, then. What are you going to wear?”  
“Oh, please don’t tell me you’re one of those annoying aesthetic people. I can just wear jeans and a shirt and that’ll be fine.” Louis almost whines at him.   
“Oh, you’re no fun.”  
“Plus if I actually pay attention to what I’m wearing it’ll just add to the things I’ll be stressed about.”  
“You have nothing to be stressed about. Everything will be fine.”

Just then, an extremely bright golden light began to glimmer in his room. He turned to focus on it, but noticed that Harry was oddly unamused by the happenings. As he watched, he saw a man slowly phase into view. When he finally became clear, his golden glow was still around him. He was also taller than Louis, his hair was cut very short on his head, and he had a very serious looking face.

“Louis, I have a message for you.” he said in a deep, echoing tone.  
“Oh, must you always with the dramatics? Is all that really necessary?” Harry said, scoffing.  
“Wait you know him?” Louis asked looking from Harry to the golden man and back again.  
“Yes, I do. Humans call him the Archangel Gabriel... I call him Liam.”  
“Yes, still influencing the humans, I see, Harry.”  
“Always. I’m evil and I’m still mum’s favorite.”  
Liam rolls his eyes.

“I have a message for you, Louis. From God.”  
“This is about him, isn’t it?”  
“Yes.”  
“Then I really am doing something bad...”  
Liam looks a little uncomfortable at that. “I’m not here to judge, only to give the message. God says that you should turn from this and walk the path that she has chosen for you. Do this, and your life will-”  
“Prosper blah blah blah no one cares, Liam.”  
“...I do care, actually.” Louis says.  
Harry scoffs again.

“It’s good that you care.” Liam says to him “God’s will is greater than all of us. One should not question it.” and he holds out his hand, beckoning Louis to come closer to him.  
“No, no, no!” Harry interjects, grabs Louis and pulls him into his chest, resting his cheek on top of his head while draping his arms around his waist. “I’m helping him, and I’m keeping him.”

“Must you always do this?” Liam asks, his arms now folded across his chest.  
“Yes, I must. Until you guys decide to fix everything.”  
“You know it’s too late for that.”  
“Time isn’t linear for us, only for them. This could have been fixed before they even evolved.”  
“We evolved?”  
“I don’t see why you said that with such disbelief.”   
“Doesn’t the Bible say we were created in seven days or something.”  
“Six days, God rested on the seventh,” Liam inserts himself into the conversation again “and six days to us is literally millennia to you. You had plenty of time to evolve.”  
“The point is, this could have been fixed.”  
“It could all work out perfectly fine if you’d just leave it alone.”  
“Oh, like you did? Like you are? End up like you?”  
“Or end up like you? Kicked out of your own home just because you can’t follow simple instructions.”

Harry immediately lifts his head up. He snarls at Liam, and his face contorts. His eyes disintegrate out of their sockets and are replaced by nothing but black holes. His hair stands on end as if it is no longer affected by gravity, his skins begins to peel off of his face in tiny squares. Louis begins to shake in his arms from fear, he closes his eyes and tries not look, but the image is burned into his brain. It takes Harry a moment to realize this, but once he does he quickly reverts himself back to his human state.  
He turns down to face Louis, and brushes their noses together, stroking his cheek with his thumb.  
“It’s okay. No need to be scared, everything’s fine. Calm down.”

“I thought you said you’re just a glowing ball of red.”  
“I am. That’s not my natural state, that’s just my defensive state. I’m sorry.” His voice is soft and comforting and Louis’ still terrified of what he’s just witnessed, but he fixes his breathing, and even though Harry’s caused the fear, his voice, and his strokes were making him feel better, steadying his shakes.

“Oh, great, now I have to watch this.” Liam scoffs.  
“Oh, jealous are we?” Harry smiles, and kisses the corner of Louis’ mouth.  
“As if I would be jealous of a human.” he sighs “Louis, just remember what I said. Don’t let this one corrupt you any further.” and he disappears. He doesn’t fade out like Harry does, he just pops out of view, it’s mostly his golden aura that has to fade, and Harry goes over to it, and starts to shoo it away.

 

“This is really bad, isn’t?” Louis asks while Harry is preoccupied with getting the last bits of golden air out of the room. He turns to him, and shakes his head.  
“No. It’s not.”  
“I don’t believe you.”  
Harry lets out a tiny laugh   
“You shouldn’t. Listen, I am evil. I am, I make no claims to not being such, but most evil is subjective. This is not one of those things. This is clearly cut black and white to me, at least. There’s nothing wrong with you liking boys, Louis. No matter what Liam has to say about it... Especially no matter what Liam has to say about it. In fact, don’t even listen to his opinion on the subject.” He pulls one last tiny golden speck from the air, and gives a tiny smile at it, before wiggling his hand and shooing it away.

“...was there something with you two?”  
Harry smiles at him “I was wondering how long it’d take you to figure it out... It’s not very complicated. I love Liam, he loves me. Neither of us is going to stop being an asshole.”  
“So there are gay angels?”  
“Not really. It’s not like that for us... We just fall in love it doesn’t... you humans always have to have names for things. We just kind of go with the flow, and anyway, we don't really have a set concept of gender either, because we don't reproduce.”

He walks Louis over to his bed, and then retreats to the desk to grab his chair, and pulls it over to the bed opposite Louis.  
“The plan of you guys is flawed. Your creation is flawed. When you were created, God wanted you to multiply. We’d seen this with other animals for centuries. You were supposed to be like them, but you weren’t. Funny thing is, we kind of knew this, we knew how things would turn out, it’s just how the rules were put into place... So, God needed to guys to multiply. We needed the first few generations of people to be heterosexual in order for that to happen. We couldn’t have both men and women being able to conceive; one sex would eventually dominate and imprison the other, we needed you to need each other in some way. The problem was that this became the norm. No one thought of any other possibilities, though God was keen on making people who weren’t just heterosexual later, it was too late by then. They were all seen as anomalies and useless and the work of me...”

He pauses for a moment. “You have to remember that time isn’t linear for us. Things just sort of happen. We can change history and we can change events. We can still prevent this all from happening...”

“Then why won’t you?”  
“Because God doesn’t want to. Things don’t happen linearly for me, but she’s God. She can see things as they’re happening, and she hasn’t actually given any of us the freedom to see what happens to you guys in the long run. That’s actually the only place where our dimension does have time, and it’s only in respect to your dimension... Anyway, the rule about homosexuality being a sin was added in much later. Not because it’s evil, but because she’d seen what would happen to you guys if you revealed yourselves. It was meant to protect you, but we all knew that would never work. You guys have free will; you can fight back against the majority if you choose to do so. She says she thought you’d stay in hiding, but that’s wrong, and she’s God, and she knew this would happen just like the rest of us.” 

“That’s really...shitty.”  
“I KNOW! I’ve been... I was kicked out, because I defied God. I felt that I could do a better job with you than she could, and I still don’t know if that’s right or not, because I don’t know how things worked out in the end, but I know that I couldn’t just sit there and let it happen either... You guys shouldn’t have to follow shitty rules. We don’t.”

Louis waits a moment before speaking.  
“I don’t think you’re evil.”  
“Oh, but I am.." He gives a sly smile. "Sure, I’m helping, but I am evil. Selfish happiness. Every time anyone ever thinks about doing something with no regards to how anyone else will feel about it, that’s me. Any time you want to take something that isn’t yours, any time some guys wants to punch another guy in the face just to make himself feel better, and... much, much worse... That’s me.”  
“Those things aren’t particularly evil.”  
“Not everything is, evil is subjective, but I have definitely dabbled in things that aren’t subjective at all...”

“....does God care about you and Liam being...whatever?”  
“No. Not at all.”  
“That’s good to know.”  
“Even so, Louis. Would you really want to follow a God who cared about something like that?”  
Louis is silent.  
“S’okay. You don’t have to answer any of those heavy questions right now. We have a party to get you to.”

Louis blinks again, and he’s outside on Zayn’s porch, the door slowly being opened.  
“Louis! Glad you could make it.” Zayn says to him with a big smile, and pulls him in through the door.  
“Glad I could, too.” Louis says and immediately regrets it.  
“You’ve been here before, right? Need a drink?”  
“Not tonight, I’m driving” he thinks, he’s not really sure. “but thanks.”  
“Cool.” and Zayn scampers off to tend to the rest of the guests. 

“Well that was boring. I’m upset that you two haven’t had sex yet that was supposed to happen tonight.” Harry says from behind him while he’s maneuvering through the crowd.  
“Ha ha very funny.”  
“I’m not kidding. There was supposed to be sex.”  
“I’m sure.”  
“I bet Niall and Gia are having sex tonight.” And he gestures to them as they approach.

“Louis are you dating Satan?” Niall asks, Louis feels that the tone was a bit nonchalant for the statement, but it is Niall.  
“No. He’s just sticking around for a while.”  
“Having a bit of fun.” Harry says “any plans for you and Gia to break up so you can stop seeing me everywhere?”  
“Not a chance. I’ll give you a head’s up before it happens, though. I’d like to give a proper g’bye.”  
“Mhm because you’ll be the one doing the breaking up, I’m sure.” and she pulls him away playfully, waving to Harry and Louis as she does.  
The entire length of Louis’ stay at the party is dotted with Zayn attempting to dote on him in the most unnoticable ways; giving him his space but checking in on him. Louis wants to talk to Zayn, he wants to give him more attention, but he knows he’s already been seen talking to him too frequently and if they both disappeared, everyone would probably notice, or at least, that’s what his head was telling him. He retreats upstairs to the bathroom to talk with Harry.

“I can’t just hang out with him everyone would notice.” Harry is annoyed by this.  
“So?”  
“I understand that this easy for you, but you need to understand that it is not for me, okay?” Louis’ pacing up and down the length of the bathroom.  
Harry sighs “Fine, then. I will amuse the idea of being afraid. Why don’t you just ask him if you can hang out with him tomorrow? It’ll be private then.”

“That’s actually a great-” and he trips “idea.” he says from the ground.  
“Uh-oh. Someone’s not doing their job are they?” Harry says, and kneels down over Louis.  
“What?”

Harry reaches onto Louis’ shoulder and pulls away what looks like a teeny tiny glowing girl.  
“Hello, there.”  
“Hello.” she squeaks back. “It wasn’t me, it was Lei.” and she points to Louis’ other shoulder which Harry reaches over to and pulls another tiny glowing girl from.  
“Sorry, Lou.” she says.  
“Who are they? What are they?”  
“Guardian Angels.” Harry says to him. “I’m guessing Lei is the physical; she helps to keep you from hurting yourself physically, and this one-”  
“I’m Courtney.”   
“Courtney, is the moral one. She keeps you from making really bad decisions.”  
“Hi.” they both say in unison looking up at Louis.  
“Do you two just sit on my shoulders all day?”  
“Yes.”  
“Guardian Angels is how angels start out. It’s like training. These two are really young. Have you only been created a few centuries ago?”  
“Yes.” they say, again in unison.  
Harry smiles at them “Aren’t they adorable?” he says, Louis nods.  
“Guardian Angels guard with their pair. I guarded with Liam...”  
“How could you guard with Liam if you were here before humans?”  
“Louis, time is not linear for me. Do you get that bit yet?”  
“I just...forgot.”  
“Lei, be a bit more careful with Louis, please? I don’t want him to hurt himself, he’s very special to me.”  
“I will be more careful I promise!” She says, and Harry sets each girl back on her respective shoulder.

Louis reaches up to see if he can feel anything sitting there, he doesn’t.  
“You could only perceive them because of me.”  
“Oh.”  
“But don’t worry. They’ll always be there. They’ll keep you safe.”  
Louis’ kind of comforted by the idea of the two little angels sitting on his shoulders.

“Anyway.” Harry pulls him up from the floor. “Text Zayn and tell him that you’re leaving, but that you’d like to hang out tomorrow.”  
“O-” he blinks again. “Did you really just make me make a decision so that you could crinkle us back to my room?”  
“I don’t like the boring parts, and I’m not used to time being linear. Check your phone.”  
“He texted me back twelve minutes ago. I’m hanging out at his house tomorrow...”  
“Good. Get some sleep. I’ll see you to tomorrow.”

Louis does sleep. He has a rather comforting dream about his soul burning for all eternity. He thinks it wouldn’t be so bad.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Because You're On The Border](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2858732) by [gooberzayn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gooberzayn/pseuds/gooberzayn)




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